Chapter Two: Turning Crumbs into Cake
Krystal Fae glided down the office’s main hallway, dressed in a light-green gossamer sundress that didn’t reveal any skin she didn’t want shown while leaving little to the imagination and a matching jacket. The height of fashion, women gazed at her with envy and men swung their heads to follow her passing by with a lusty yearning.
“Is it just me, or is she getting a bit of a belly?”, Chaz thought vindictively. Ignoring her distractive flitting, Chaz covered the office phone with a yellow notepad and faced his computer, putting both temptations out of sight. “I’m going to do what a good reporter should and verify my sources before I start wagging my tongue.”
He sent the photos he took of the muscular woman from the park to a people-searching application on his work computer. Instructing it to scan through public records in an attempt to identify her, Chaz opened up a separate document program to write down every word of their conversation, time, place, and any other observable detail he could remember. Good note taking skills were imperative to a reporter, but his skills bordered on obsessive.
Anything she said, even the way she said hello could hold a clue to follow. A bystander nearby might be a pivotal part of the story, but if he failed to recognize that person, should they cross paths again later in his investigations, he would have only himself to blame.
Three comments she made set of red flags for Chaz. First, she talked about the construction of the Space Stadium. Then, she talked about all the heroes being in one place during the Stellar Battle and finally, she mentioned the stadium as a target. While very vague comments, two of the three implied a select, inner knowledge of a threat to the stadium itself, not any one particular hero or league.
“So, the target might be the stadium itself…” Chaz mused aloud as he took out a sheet of paper. He wrote the word ‘STADIUM’ in a large circle at the very center of the page. He then placed the words ‘Construction companies’, ‘plans’, and “materials around the middle word, leaving room to write beneath each sub-topic. “Time to do some research.”
The Sentinel reported on nearly every known activity BADGE undertook, so Chaz spent several hours scanning articles, job postings, and events relating to the new stadium. Several construction companies had been hired to build equipment. He made notes of their names. Dozens of jobs had been offered to the community, looking for skilled laborers. Foundries and tech firms touted their sense of privilege to being tasked with providing raw materials for construction.
His sheet of paper filled quickly with potential leads.
A chime rang out, announcing the completion of the search for a match to his photograph. Minimizing his open tabs, Chaz brought up the data from his application. His photo from earlier and several smaller photos of potential matches filled his computer screen.
One photo stood out to him. He clicked on it to enlarge the image. The same woman, wearing an armored vest of some type and an ineffective mask, being arrested outside a storage building. Several other similarly clad but unidentifiable individuals were in the photo, also being taken into custody. The caption to the photo read:
POUNDCAKE and THE BAKERS DOZEN APPREHENDED
“Well, well,” Chaz chuckled. “I think it’s time we talked on my terms, Poundcake.”
“Were you saying something to me, Chaz,” Krystal looked through the door of her corner office as she leaned back in her leather chair. “I thought I heard you say someone brought a cake?”
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